In general, pipes are used as passages through which water or other liquids are guided and moved. Pipes are typically buried in floors or walls of buildings.
As such pipes are used for a relatively long time, inner surfaces of the pipes are eroded, and various contaminants are easily stuck on the inner surfaces, so that scales may be produced. The scale may be solidified as time passes, and thus, a diameter of the pipe passage is narrowed.
Once the pipe passage is narrowed due to the scale, fluidal material cannot be smoothly moved through the pipe, so that the pipe may not function as its design. Furthermore, due to motional pressure of the fluidal material, the pipe may be destructed. Therefore, if much scale is produced in the pipe, the scale needs to be immediately removed so as for the pipe to normally function.
As one of the widely-used methods of removing the scale in pipe, there is a method of removing scale, in which water mixed with chemicals passes the pipe, and the chemicals contact with the scale to cause a chemical reaction, so that the scale can be dissolved into water.
However, in the method of removing scale in pipe by using chemicals, there is a need for an additional unit such as an air sprayer. In addition, since the chemicals are used, relatively high caution is needed for a working process. In addition, the pipe may be damaged by the chemicals during the process of removing the scale. In addition, since the chemical is expensive, much cost is needed for the working process.
Furthermore, even though some chemicals used for removing scale do not harm to humans, water consumers have anxieties about the chemicals. Particularly, since people who live in ordinary houses have a negative attitude toward the method of removing scale by using the chemicals, the problems caused from the production of scale cannot be easily solved.
In order to solve the aforementioned problems, the inventor of the present invention contrived various techniques relating the removing of scale in pipe. The inventor has several patents (Korean Patent Nos. 324449, 533508, 533509, and 533510). The inventor's applications (Korean Patent Application Nos. 2006-0025347, 2006-0025348, and 2006-0025895) are pending.
In the patent-granted or pending inventions of the applicant of the present invention, a flexible wire is inserted into an inner portion of a pipe, and after that, the flexible wire is rotated at a high speed, so that the rotating flexible wire respectively has an impact on scale produced in the inner portion of the pipe so as for the scale to be removed. Since no chemicals are used in the inventions, the techniques of the inventions are agreeably accepted by the residents of an apartment building where water is supplied through the pipes.
Hereinafter, the latest one among the inventions which were contrived and filed previously by the same inventor will be described with reference to FIG. 1 of the accompanying drawings.
FIGS. 1 and 2 are front view illustrating an apparatus for removing scale in pipe which was filed previously by the same inventor of the present invention. The apparatus for removing scale in pipe includes: a supporting plate 1 which is supported on a ground; a moving plate 3 which is disposed on the supporting plate to move horizontally forward and backward along a guide rail 2; a motor 4 which is fixed on the moving plate and supplied with an electric power to generate positive and negative driving forces; a hollow shaft 5 which is inserted into a central portion of the motor to rotation by the driving forces of the motor 4; a wire housing 6 which is fixed at one end of the hollow shaft to rotate together with the hollow shaft at the time of rotation; a flexible wire 7 which is contained in the wire housing in a wound state and of which distal end is designed to penetrate the hollow shaft 5 of the motor 4 and to be extracted to a forward side, that is, toward a side opposite to the wire housing 6; a wire locking member 8 which is fixed to the forward side opposite to the wire housing on the upper surface of the moving plate 3 to support one end of the hollow shaft 5 and selectively lock the flexible wire 7 as needed; a wire protection pipe 9 which is fixed to an flexible-wire extracting portion of the wire locking member to protect a portion of the flexible wire that is not inserted into an inner portion of the pipe; and a pipe supporting plate 10 which is fixed on the supporting plate 1 to be separated from the wire locking member 8 so as to support the wire protection pipe 9 in a horizontal state.
Now, processes of removing scale produced on an inner portion of the pipe by using the apparatus for removing scale in pipe having the above structure will be described.
The distal end of the flexible wire 7 wound in the wire housing 6 is extracted through the hollow shaft 5 of the motor 4. The distal end of the extracted flexible wire 7 is passed through the wire locking member 8 and further extracted outward through the wire protection pipe 9 which is supported by the pipe supporting plate 10. Next, the extracted portion of the flexible wire 7 is inserted into the inner portion of the pipe, of which scale is to be removed.
The above-described state denotes a state that the moving plate 8 to which the motor 7 is fixed is moved forward, that is, toward the pipe. It can be understood that, in the state, the locking of the flexible wire 7 by using the wire locking member 8 needs to be released so as for the flexible wire 7 to rotate at a high speed by the driving of the motor in the later-described processes.
After the flexible wire 7 is inserted into the inner portion of the pipe, the motor 4 is driven at a high speed by a control signal of a controller (not shown). Since the driving force is transmitted to the wire housing 6 through the hollow shaft 5, the wire housing 6 together with the hollow shaft 5 can be rotated at a high speed. As a result, the flexible wire 7 can also be rotated at a high speed so as to have an impact on the inner diameter surface of the pipe, so that the scale produced on the inner portion of the pipe can be removed.
On the other hand, in a case where a worker further inserts the flexible wire 7 into the inner portion of the pipe down to a deeper site so as to increase a scale-removed region of the pipe, the motor 4 is moved backward in the state shown in FIG. 1, and after that, the motor is moved forward. This process is described in detail as follows.
The worker pushes the motor backward with the hand in a state the driving of the motor 4 is stopped. Therefore, the moving plate 3 to which the motor 4 is fixed is guided along the guide rail 4 on the supporting plate 4 so as to be smoothly moved backward as shown in FIG. 2. As a result, the wire housing 6 together with the motor 4 is moved backward. In this case, the flexible wire 7 wound in the wire housing 6 is unwound by a length thereof in proportion to a backward moving distance.
Subsequently, the worker locks the flexible wire 7 by using the wire locking member 8, and after that, the worker pushes the motor with the hand again. Therefore, the moving plate 3 to which the motor is fixed is guided along the guide rail 2 so as to be moved forward. In this case, since the wire locking member 8 locks the flexible wire 7, the flexible wire 7 is further moved forward and inserted into the inner portion of the pipe down to a deeper side in proportion to the forward moving distance of the motor 4. In this state, the locking of the flexible wire 7 by using the wire locking member 8 is released, and the motor is driven again. As a result, due to the rotation of the wire housing 6, the flexible wire 7 is rotated at a high speed, and the scale produced at a deeper site of the inner portion of the pipe can be removed.